The United States of America is a federal republic consisting of 50
states (four of which use the term commonwealth rather than state
in their full, legal state name, a federal district (where the nation's
seat of government - Washington, D.C. - is located), five major
territories, and various possessions. The 48 contiguous states
and Washington, D.C., are in central North America between Canada
and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwestern part of North
America (also bordering Canada) and the state of Hawaii is an
archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The territories are scattered about
the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.
States are the primary subdivisions of the United States, and possess
a number of powers and rights under the United States Constitution,
such as regulating intrastate commerce, running elections, creating
local governments, and ratifying constitutional amendments. Each
state has its own constitution, grounded in republican principles, and
government, consisting of three branches: executive, legislative, and
judicial. All states and their residents are represented in the federal
Congress, a bicameral legislature consisting of the Senate and the
House of Representatives. Each state is represented by two Senators,
while Representatives are distributed among the states in proportion to
the most recent constitutionally mandated decennial census. Additionally,
each state is entitled to select a number of electors to vote in the Electoral
College, the body that elects the President of the United States, equal to
the total of Representatives and Senators in Congress from that state.
Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution grants to Congress the
authority to admit new states into the Union. Since the establishment of
the United States in 1776, the number of states has expanded from the
original 13 to 50. Each new state has been admitted on an equal footing
with the existing states.
Zip Codes were implemented in 1963 by the United States Post OfficeClick on any of the following links: